KOLKATA: The bees are back in the Sunderbans. The insects, one of the biggest bio-indicators of ecological balance, are once again making a buzz in the mangrove region by the Bay of Bengal, as it recovers from the assault of cyclone Amphan.
The return of the honeybees has prompted forest officials to revive honey collection in the forests after a gap two years. Groups of honey gatherers, locally called mouli, have been given permits by the forest department to enter the buffer areas of the Sunderbans.
Though they had tried to undertake the exercise last year as well, lack of enough flowering had failed to attract bees.
This year, the blooms are in abundance, especially of the khalsi flower. Honeybees that gather nectar from the khalsi flower are believed to be the source of the best honey procured in the Sunderbans.
“Cyclone Amphan, which struck the region in 2020, caused massive devastation. It did not even spare the insect population and beehives,” said Tapas Das, the field director of the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve.
“Even last year, there were not enough flowers to attract bees. This year, the flowering seems to be much better and honey collection is likely to return to its earlier scale,’’ he added.
There are several kinds of honeybees in the Sunderbans and among them, the Apis dorsata makes more hives, thus being economically more beneficial.
“The bees fly from the Himalayas in search of these flowers in the mangroves. They are migratory and fly up to Indonesia before returning back,” a forest officer said.
According to an official, the impact of Amphan on the insect population has not been studied, and so the honey gatherers have the best idea of the damage caused.
“Amphan destroyed everything in 2020. We had barely a few hundred kg of honey last year,’’ he said.
For now, the forest department has issued permits to 70 groups of honey collectors in the Sajnekhali and Basirhat ranges.
They spend days and nights on their boats stocked with food, fuel and other essentials, getting off periodically to enter the forests and harvest honey in the tiger territory.
They wear masks on the back of their heads because tigers usually attack from behind. Enough honey, however, makes it a sweet deal.